Malaysia to banish 20 players in graft fight
Malaysia to banish 20 players in graft fight
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): Malaysia will arrest and banish 20 players and two coaches in the latest move against soccer corruption, according to reports yesterday.
And officials are still deciding whether to carry out a threat to exclude Singapore from Malaysian league matches for the new season starting in April.
The national Bernama news agency quoted Malaysian Deputy Home Minister, Megat Junid Megat Ayob, as saying that warrants for the arrests of non-Moslem players will be issued this week while those against Moslem players would be issued after the end of the Ramadan, or Moslem fasting month, in March.
He said Malaysian police would detain the players for 14 days before banishing them. Under the country's Restricted Residence Act, Malaysia's Home Minister is empowered to banish individuals to a remote district of the country for up to two years.
Those banished will be placed under police supervision and must stay indoors from dusk to dawn -- reporting to police daily.
Malaysia has already detained 68 players, two coaches and six bookmakers for questioning since launching a major offensive against corruption in the sport late last year.
Three of the bookmakers have been exiled to remote districts under the Restricted Residence Act, which was originally drafted to deal with Chinese triad gangs and secret societies.
Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, Deputy President of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), said the crackdown was only the beginning of the country's war on soccer corruption.
"We have to see how effective this line of action is in one or two year's time," he said.
Tengku Abdullah also said on Sunday that Malaysia was still debating whether to exclude Singapore.
Malaysia has previously accused the neighboring republic of not doing enough to fight soccer corruption and said that Singapore had to give documentary proof that it had taken steps to clean up its act before the start of the season.
"Reports from police investigations have shown that most of the malpractice was done during games with Singapore," added Tengku Abdullah.
In Singapore, it was reported on Friday that anti-corruption officers had confiscated the passport of a member of the national soccer team, Abbas Saad, a 26-year-old midfielder from Australia.
Abbas's passport was impounded after 48 hours of interrogation into the alleged fixing of matches in the Malaysian premier league and Malaysian Cup competitions last year.